Monday, November 18, 2002

John Poindexter is trying to build a computer system for the
government that would directly access information on consumers' (what
used to be called citizens') travel arrangements, credit card
purchases, and so forth, saying
that we need to "break down the stovepipes" that separate government
and commercial databases. I was going to write an indignant entry
about how this relegates the fourth amendment to an irrelevant
stovepipe. But then I realized, that would be wrong.
Poindexter's system wouldn't really change the civil liberties
of Americans much at all.

Given the anemic state of
American data privacy laws (compared to what exists in Europe), most
commercial organizations are free to collect and share data
essentially at will --- including the government. Your bank and
credit card company, for instance, can already share just about
anything they know about you. (A recent law requires them to stop if
you've specifically
told them to --- but they generally aren't particularly up front about
letting you know you have the option).

So relax, folks, your fourth amendment rights are not at risk.
What you may have considered your private information really wasn't,
anyway.

Or at least that's where you get if you don't
acknowledge that in the modern world, large corporations are as much
of a threat to civil rights as government agencies, and government
regulators have a useful role to play in keeping them in check.